Many handguns are capable of firing a bullet that can readily pass through the outer sheet metal and the inner decorative fabric covering the doors of a typical automobile and with sufficient momentum to injure or kill an individual who happens to be in the path of travel of that bullet. Thus, from a standpoint of safety, especially in areas of political unrest and in other volatile environments, it may be desirable to provide some level of armor or ballistic protection to protect occupants of the vehicle from weapons fire, fragmentation caused by explosions and other harm.
As is well known in the art, specially modified armored vehicles can be used to protect vehicle occupants from attack by weapons fire and/or fragmentation caused by explosions. These vehicles are typically utilized by police forces and other emergency services, such as fire and ambulance, which may come under attack, by military and peace keeping forces, and by those involved in security operations and charity work in volatile areas of the world. In addition, these vehicles may also be used by diplomats, politicians and other noteworthy and/or famous people worldwide to protect against kidnapping and/or assassination attempts, as well as other persons who may fear for their safety and desire protection from attacks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,311 to Madden, Jr., the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes a removable bulletproof apparatus for a vehicle which includes a transparent panel that is secured to or disposed adjacent to a vehicle window and a flexible curtain that is secure to a bracket to which the bottom portion of the transparent panel is secured. The curtain may include a bottom flap or portion that may be pivoted down when the door is open to provide an essentially full length bulletproof shield.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,500 to Podvin, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety describes a bullet-proofing panel for attachment to the exterior door surface of an automobile comprising an outer polymeric skin having a contour corresponding to the contour of the sheet metal of the vehicle's door. The polymeric skin member defines a predetermined space or pocket therebetween which contains a barrier member capable of stopping bullets.
However, while various armoring or bullet-proofing arrangements have been developed for vehicles utilizing conventional doors, there remains a need in the art for an improved armoring and/or bullet-proofing apparatus for vehicles that utilize gullwing doors.
Gull-wing doors are doors that are hinged at the roof of the vehicle and thus open out and up. Similarly, scissor doors are typically hinged on the front pillar of the vehicle and also open in upward motion. On both gull-wing and scissor doors, the opening process is typically supported by pressurized cylinders so that the door does not close under its own weight.
Examples of automobiles with gull-wing doors including the 1950s Mercedes Benz 300SL and the 1980s DeLorean DMC-12. More recently, the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG and the Tesla Model X have also incorporated gullwing doors.
A typical gull-wing door has a one piece configuration that is hinged at the roof, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,658 to DeLorean, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The use of articulated gull-wing doors has also been suggested and examples of articulated gull-wing doors can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,918 to Hoffman, and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,449,015 to Brown et al., the subject matter of each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. In addition, DE 10200502133A1 to Volkswagen describes a vehicle door, including a gull-wing door, that is of a telescopic form and in which the lower region of the door is able to slide over the upper part of the door. An advantage of gull-wing doors is that when properly designed, they allow much better entrance/egress than conventional doors, thus more easily facilitating access for passengers as well as storage of wheelchairs and cargo.
One of the most common methods of armoring a vehicle is by adding steel plates where opaque armor is appropriate and adding laminated transparent armor within the window frames. However, because of the size and hinge design of gullwing doors, the addition of a steel plate, of sufficient thickness to withstand weapons fire, to the gullwing door can increase the weight of the door beyond the capabilities of the door open/close hinge mechanism. In addition, while there are many benefits to the large opening afforded by the gullwing door configuration with respect to entrance and egress of individuals into and out of the vehicle, when it comes to security, especially in a potentially hostile environment, the large door opening can also be a substantial safety liability.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved design for a gullwing door that takes advantage of the unique configuration of large opening of the gullwing door while at the same time improving upon the significant deficiencies of the door design in terms of both weight and security.